the best of the Roman Emperors; at a very early period of life he
gave promise of uncommon excellence; and throughout his reign he
distinguished himself as an able and accomplished monarch. But he was
proud, pedantic, and self-sufficient; and, like every other individual
destitute of spiritual enlightenment, his character presented the most
glaring inconsistencies; for he was at once a professed Stoic, and a
devout Pagan. This Prince could not brook the contempt with which the
Christians treated his philosophy; neither could he tolerate the idea
that they should be permitted to think for themselves. He could conceive
how an individual, yielding to the stern law of fate, could meet death
with unconcern; but he did not understand how the Christians could glory
in tribulation, and hail even martyrdom with a song of triumph. Had he
calmly reflected on the spirit displayed by the witnesses for the truth,
he might have seen that they were partakers of a higher wisdom than his
own; but the tenacity with which they adhered to their principles, only
mortified his self-conceit, and roused his indignation. It is remarkable
that this philosophic Emperor was the most systematic and heartless of
all the persecutors who had ever yet oppressed the Church. When Nero
lighted up his gardens with the flames which issued from the bodies of
the dying Christians, he wished to transfer to them the odium of the
burning of Rome, and he acted only with the caprice and cunning of a
tyrant; and when Domitian promulgated his cruel edicts, he was haunted
with the dread that the proscribed sect would raise up a rival
Sovereign; but Marcus Aurelius could not plead even such miserable
apologies. He hated the Christians with the cool acerbity of a Stoic;
and he took measures for their extirpation which betrayed at once his
folly and his malevolence. Disregarding the law of Trajan which required
that they should not be officiously sought after, he encouraged spies
and informers to harass them with accusations. He caused them to be
dragged before the tribunals of the magistrates; and, under pain of
death, to be compelled to conform to the rites of idolatry. With a
refinement of cruelty unknown to his predecessors, he employed torture
for the purpose of forcing them to recant. If, in their agony, they gave
way, and consented to sacrifice to the gods, they were released; if they
remained firm, they were permitted to die in torment. In his reign we
read of new